This invention relates to photographic processing and handling equipment and, more particularly, relates to a print cutter for separating individual prints from a continuous reel, straightening the prints and sorting them.
Typically, in a commercial photofinishing lab, the photographic prints printed from developed film are batch processed and the prints are produced on a continuous reel. It is necessary to cut the prints into individual photographs from the reel prior to delivery of the prints to the customer. In order to process the prints in the most efficient manner, steps of the print cutting process are typically carried out in an automated machine. It is desirable to produce a print cutter that is easily threaded so that the prints from the reel can be presented to the knife of the cutter.
Because of their production in reel form, the prints tend to curl even after they are cut from the continuous reel since they have been conformed to the circular shape of the reel for some period of time. The curl of the prints makes it more difficult to stack them into a compact stack, easily insertable into an envelope for return to the customer. The customer also prefers the print to be flat, rather than curled, so that they are easier to put into a photo album or simply to look at. Present day print cutters have not really addressed the problem of straigtening or decurling the photographic prints after they are separated from the continuous reel and before they are delivered to the customer.
During the printing of the photographs, occasionally some of the photogaphs are damaged or do not turn out correctly and must be redone. These prints are marked by an inspector and designated makeover prints, meaning that that particular prints must be made again using the customer's film. It is desirable that after the prints are separated from the reel, any makeover prints are kept separated from the good prints that do not need to be made over so that the makeovers can be easily identified.
Optimally, all of the prints produced of any one type will be of uniform length. In order for the print cutter to accurately cut the prints to the desired length, it is necessary that the feed rollers that advance the prints through the cutter can be accurately monitored to determine the print length at the time of cutting.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a print cutter for separating individual photographic prints from a continuous reel.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a print cutter that automatically threads the continuous reel of prints into the cutter and continuously monitors the feed of the prints from the reel through the cutter.
It is another object of this invention to provide a print cutter that can accurately monitor the passing of the prints through the cutter to control the print length to desired accuracy.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a print cutter that removes the curl from the separated prints so that they are substantially flat at the time they are delivered to the customer.
It is another object of this invention to provide a print cutter that sorts the prints after separation from the reel into a satisfactory group and a group that needs to be made over.